Set Size - 318
Common - 120
Uncommon - 72
Rare - 74
Mythic - 22
Land Slot - 10
Basic Land - 20
Set Status 2022.10.22 - [Set Design]
Post Update Log:
2022.10.22 – Set Design – Mechanic updates – Patriot Frame update.
2022.05.18 – Initial Set Design completed.
2022.04.01 – Initial Design Outlay established.
Rise of Nations is the second in a tetralogy of sets set in the Antiquities timeline. This set didn't start design until after Industrial Revolution hit its current iteration of energy and artifacts matter. At that point a clearer picture where the tetralogy of sets would evolve took shape. Rise of Nations takes a little bit of a detour in the artifacts matter mold and is a shards based set, rather than a straight artifacts matter set.
Rise of nations took shape around two paradigms, it wanted room to explore the concept of nations, and the easiest way to manage that was to use the color pie. Rise of nations took a shards approach to cutting up the color pie and the set features five distinct national identities. Rise of nations also wanted to play in the space of competition for resources. Where Industrial revolution was more about the discovery of resources with its execution of energy, Rise of Nations wanted to raise the stakes and make competing resource acquisition a core component of the gameplay loop.
The set is designed with a power level and mechanical eye intended for limited play in sealed/draft. Its comparison would be of a supplementary limited set direct to eternal formats.
Each set of the tetralogy represents a different era of technological advancement. The world of Rise of Nations is that of a Victorian steampunk/Diselpunk world. Terisiare has evolved with technology and magic and is entering a dangerous period of expansionism and manifest destiny. Great nations have risen on the back of technological superiority and seek to usurp every inch of land and resources they can acquire.
The world of Antiquities is a reimagining of the origin story leading up to the brother's war. The world of Rise of Nations sees Urza leading the Yotian conquest. Yotia is the realm that understands the dichotomy of natural strength, and the mental will it takes to lead it. Mishra on the other hand has been captured by the Quadir of the Zegon Fallaji, and bides his time as he slowly arms the Zegon nation in their own bid for conquest.
As a Multicolor shards based set, looking back on the previous shards based multicolor set (New Capenna hadn't been revealed at the time of this set's concept design) color fixing was rather weak, and not well accessed. Khans of Tarkir was better, but I still remember have a lot of problems casting the three color common cards in that set, despite having morph to smooth them over a bit. Ultimately I liked how Strixhaven dealt with multicolor both in mana fixing, and in the as-fan of appearance of the multicolor cards.
I modeled the as-fan of multicolor components of this set around that set-up, and all the cards that appear at common are hybrid two color cards that can be picked up by multiple shards. This keeps the more common cards easier to cast, but still fit into their respective nations and roles. The cards scale in power level and difficultly to cast as you move up in rarity, with the true tri-colored spells situated in uncommon and rare.
Also, where Strixhaven had about a 2:3 rate drop of dual lands, Rise of Nations will feature a full 1:1 of dual lands appearing in the land slot to ensure better mana fixing across colors.
Now that New Capenna is fully integrated, I like the notion of the tapped Treasure token better than I thought I would. It makes it easier to flow quick mana without the right amount of timing restriction.
Also building on the stun counter technology, I like how it gives tapping better reach and have been giving that power to white and blue in flavor of Yotia's police state.
What would a multicolor set be without the return of expected spells. Rise of Nations features a new set of Shards based charms (Following a new paradigm of how the modal choices are designed). And at rare a new cycle of Commands has also been designed (Also following the design of the new charms, but with choose two instead of choose one.)
Set size metrics were chosen for simplified ratio of randomization. The set size will host an 8 player sealed pool or 12 player draft environment. Packs include a set based common duel land in the land slot. Basic lands are not included in the packs, but are used for the basic land kit. Mythics have aprx a 1:5 ratio of appearance. A set pool consists of:
4x Common = 480 total pool size
2x Uncommon = 144 total pool size
1x Rare + 1x Mythic = 96 total pool size
5x Land slot common duel = 50 total pool size
10x each basic = 200 total pool size.
970 Total card pool size (including 200 basic lands)
Card File
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Set Teaser
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Here is a quick set teaser. Since art in these custom sets are found rather than created, it leaves less creative agency for new creature types. Here are some things you can expect:
• 11 Legendary characters that appeared in Industrial Revolution have new legendary cards in Rise of Nations
• 3 Characters that originally appeared in the Antiquities story have legendary creature cards that appear for the first time Rise of Nations
• 6 All new legendary characters appear in Rise of Nations
• A creature that turns Treasure into a legendary Equipment.
• 1 card originally printed in Antiquities is reprinted here with a rarity shift.
• A spell that lets each creature you control fight.
• A cycle of hybrid mana Commands
• Several cards have the ability to turn lands into Wastes.
• A new Mox artifact
• A cycle of man-lands that tap for three colors of mana
• Two more swords in the cycle that will appear across all four Antiquities sets
Visual Spoiler: Coming soon™
Card File: Coming soon™
The Tokens of Rise of Nations: Coming soon™
The Places of Rise of Nations
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–– The Five Great Nations ––
Argoth – A lush jungle paradise that sits off the southern coast straddling Korlos and Yotia, Argoth was forced into conflict by the expansionist efforts of both nations. Where Argoth lacks in technology, it makes up effort and magical prowess. While Argoth's warriors are less refined than the warriors of Zegon who are honed through the crucible of war, they make up for their inexperience with numbers. Don't be fooled though, Argoth's forces are FireIce and deeply devoted to protecting their land from the other nations. The Spirits of the Forest are keenly award of the wealth of resources that Argoth hides, and should the other nations discover the depth of Argoth's wealth, there is nothing their foces could do to hold back the wave of aggression that would crash down upon them.
Korlos – After the nation of Argive had annexed the kingdom of Korlis, they took over the moniker, renaming their expansive empire Korlos. Argive did this to bring all the people of the eastern banks into their fold and integrate their new bretherin into their way of life. Argive had been the first to reach a high level of technology and was the first to successfully conquer a neighboring realm. Some of the former knights of Korlis dropped their swords in defeat, and joined Korlos's ranks. Others defected to Yotia in the hope that nation of power could give them cause to continue their fight against their usurpers. Korlos is ruled by a triumvirate of clerics and nobles, and is caught in the space between preserving its old-world culture and giving into progress. Conservative forces within Korlos still cling to the past and the nation has become obsessed with preservation. It has ascribed this outlook to its expansion efforts as it seeks to overtake the other nations, and preserve all of Terisiare's history, though mostly by force.
Malpiri – Every day Yawgmoth plots. He can feel the strength of Dominaria seeping through the planar portal in the cave of Korlos and grows more and more impatient with biding his time. Though he sent Gix to Terisiare to spearhead preparations for his return to Dominaria, it appears that Gix has taken it upon himself to manage his own plans. Gix cares not for Yawgmoth's revenge, instead he sees the opportunity to supplant himself as a force to be reckoned with in Terisiare. Amassing power and followers into Malpiri, Gix has been gifting his cult Phyrexian technology to begin his own conquest of the rival nations of Zegon and Korlos.
Yotia – After Korlis fell to Argive, Ratha Bin-Kroog agreed to meet with the triumvirate and took Urza along to the summit. It looked like Argive was willing to strike a legitimate accord with Yotia, having stretched itself thin with its war against Korlis. But as the accord was being signed, a Fallaji raid struck the site of the summit. Aided by technology that Mishra had developed, Ratha was killed and Argive retreated. The attack on the summit resulted in Argive transforming into Korlos and becoming a direct competitor with Yotia. With the line of success passing down to Kayla, Urza was now the de-facto head of state of Yotia. Urza took up the mantle of putting Yotia's defenses into full effect. With constant raids by the Zegon, Yotia became a police state and quickly acted in its own expansion efforts to feed its growing need for greater defensive positioning within Terisiare.
Zegon – The tribes of the Fallaji had always been a web of maurading bands loosely interconnected and heavily disorganized. Seeing first hand the power technology could grant the user in warfare, A Quadir rose from among the Fallaji and quickly sweapt up all the tribes of the Zegon wastes until they were all unified under a single banner. The Zegon empire was brutal and malicious, but not without honor. They understood strength, and that was about all they respected.
–– The Holdouts ––
Kher Keep – The Keep has fallen. Caught in a pincher move between Argivian expansion and Fallaji raids the site once held great reverence for the mountain tribes is now rubble smoldering in the cold smoke of the Kher Ridges. Kher Keep was a bastion of freedom, and though it now gone, one man refuses to let that legacy die with it. Hellbent, the nations of Terisiare will one last time know the full fury of the keep.
Lat-Nam – Situated on an island off the western coast, Lat-Nam is relatively protected geographically due to it's remoteness. Though it's not at the heart of Terisiare's land wars, it has felt the tremors of war all the same. Nations have begun sending spies into Lat-Nam's ranks, seeking to steal Lat-Nam's technology and magic for themselves. In just such a provocation, Drafna is seriously wounded, sending Hurkyl into a rage. On the best of days Hurkyl rallied against technology, but now cause, Hurkyl is on her own warpath to end this arms race that has engulfed the whole of Terisiare.
The Players of Terisiare
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–– The Major Players ––
Ashnod Karimotha – Ashnod was at best unscrupulous, but the power of machinery that the Malpiri wield was too much for Ashnod to ignore. Studying directly under Gix, Ashnod has learned how to weave machine and flesh, and transform that mass back into energy in a way that no one else on Terisiare could possibly understand. Gix's deep rooted animosity towards human grows deeper as he his envy for Ashnod's craft eats away at him.
Barl – Barl's journey started as a trial, has turned into a journey. Failing to repel the early Argivian and Yotian advances into Argoth, what started as a cult following to fight, has become a religious experience Argoth's warriors. They call themselves the Warriors of the True Path. Only the most devout warriors are granted the title of the Path, and suddenly where Barl was once Argoth's greatest savior, he now finds himself on the outside looking in.
Feldon Walliman – Obsessed with the past, Feldon never truly appreciated the full horror of Terisiare until he found it. Discovering the frozen city of Halcyon, the true scope of desolation that technology would lead to was laid bare in front of him. Knowing that if Terisiare's arms race was to be allowed to continue unabated, it would ultimately consume them all as it had done to the Thran. Feldon founded the secret society of the Third Path along with Loran. Together they began an effort to subvert the growth of technology however they could.
Gix – Gix has not just made Malpiri his home, but is actively seeking to conquer all of the other rival nations of Terisiare. Fueled by his hatred of human, Gix has been ramping up efforts to complete Terisiare, not for Yawgmoth, but to fuel his own selfish desire for control. Deep into the night, the screams of his sycophants echo across the moors as Gix and Ashnod work tirelessly to build a mechanized army for Malpiri to finally spread out across all of Terisiare.
Hurkyl Tribecca – With Drafna seriously wounded in a raid to steal his technology, something in Hurkyl snapped. She had always been a staunch advocate against the dangers of technology, but witnessing the person she loves most in the world nearly killed because of it, set her off on a whole new vector. Hurkyl vowed she would never rest until the scourge of artifice was wiped clean from the world and spent her every waking moment afterwards preparing her protégés to rise and join her in her fight. Where once she sought to protect against artifice, now she was the hunter, actively seeking out artifice and destroying it.
Loran – Though years had passed, the pain in her heart at losing her mentor Tocasia had never gone away. Aimless and wandering, Loran stumbled upon another soul that sought to undo the harm that artifice was having upon the world. Teaming up with Feldon, the two of them began the society of the Third Path, and sought to slow the march of artifices progress before it would consume them all.
Kayla Bin-Kroog – With her father dead, Kayla is the last of noble blood in Terisiare. The march of time moved quickly, and Kayla's youthful defiance quickly evolved into obsession for Urza whom she married. With Ratha's death, the burden of the nation fell on Urza's shoulders. Though Kayla pined for Urza every day, he instead grew more and more distant, to the point that he nearly all but ignored Kayla and their young son Harbin. Though she was Heiress to a nation, Kayla's relevance was being leeched away with every decree that Urza issued, pushing her further and further into obscurity.
Mishra Erdeli – Mishra's journey is not proving kind. Unable to let go of his animosity for his brother, Mishra wandered amongst the Fallaji, picking up thran artifacts where ever he could find them, and rebuilding them into machines of war. With the Fallaji quickly coalescing into the Zegon nation, Mishra thought he finally had a chance to get the attention of someone at the top and finally start to make his way up. Gifting the Zegon Quadir several of his Ornithopters that he developed, he convinced the Quadir to try them out against the Korlos/Yotia summit. The problem was they were too successful. The Quadir was the power of Zegon, and he took what he wanted. Seeing the power of Mishra's skills first hand, the Quadir ordered him locked up to toil away at building Zegon Machines of war to aid their conquest of Terisiare.
Tawnos Revella – Now a young man, Urza conscripted Tawnos into designing the ultimate defenses for Yotia to use against its rival nations. Tawnos had a gift that could distill every scrap of energy from a mechanical design. To say he designed with efficiency was an understatement. With Tawnos's help, Yotia was rapidly becomes the most technologically superior nation.
Verdansk Treeck – Kher keep had fallen. Where Verdansk once had a purpose, a place, he was now just a wandering singularity of rage. Freedom was all that Verdansk knew, and as long as a nation still stood he would never again know that freedom. Verdansk's fight was just with himself, but had evolved against the entire world.
Urza Erdeli – Though Urza was the driving force of all events that shaped Terisiare across the saga of Antiquities, he was no hero. The people of the nation of Yotia cheered his name in the streets, praising the protection his technology had granted them, but as Urza slowly stripped away their freedoms to build a police state, the people were non the wiser of just how much they were truly giving up to that man. While Mishra wore his power hunger on his sleeve, Urza was never truly in touch with his basic nature. Though he mostly ignored the people closest to him, he failed to realize just how much he craved the attention and adulation of the people of Yotia. Where once Urza was the brains guiding Yotia's future, with Ratha's death, his popularity status cemented him as the heart of Yotia and its people.
–– The Minor Players ––
Belbos – In order to keep human victims flowing into Malpiri, Gix needed to continually sow distrust and distress in the other nations. That's where his minions came into play, and Belbos was one of the best. With a whisper he would wrench the mind into craving power, and with a flick of the wrist, twist the body into a wretched heap. Where Belbos went, only trouble followed.
Drafna Tribecca – Leads Lat-Nam's artifice programs and instructs the manufacturing of machinery. His skills are unrivaled in Lat-Nam. With the rise of nations seeking to gain every possible advantage, spies have been casing Lat-Nam, and in a raid, attempted to steal Drafna's technology seriously wounding him in the process. Recovery has been slow, and though Hurkyl won't admit it, Drafna fears he may never fully regain his composure again.
Hajar, The Ignoble – Hajar was just a quadir amongst a field of quadirs. But where most of the fallaji failed to understand their role in the greater field of Terisiare, Hajar had the ambition to claim his place. Were it not for an angry young boy with extraordinary gifts for artiface, he likely would never have realized his ambitions. Promising Mishra the means to exact his revenge, Hajar hooked the boy into his service and with horrifying technology at his disposal quickly swept his way across the Zegon wastes, banding together Fallaji tribes that would kneel to his command, and obliterating those that wouldn't. Unfortunately for Mishra, Hajar is not a man of honor, and when the whole of the Fallaji were under the banner of the Zegon of Hajar, he imprisoned Mishra, forcing him to crank out greater and greater machines to fuel Zegon's unending lust for conquest.
Harbin Erdeli – Though Urza pays little to no attention to Kayla these days, there was a brief moment in time where they two of them connected, and Harbin is the progency of that moment. Though Harbin lives in comform of the Yotian palace, it's not an easy life for a child without a strong role model. Most of Harbin's instruction comes from his mother. Despite this, Harbin retained much of Urza's gifts for artifice and though a child, already show exemplary skill at machinery.
Kaysena – The True Path was the evolution of the warriors and druids of Argoth into a single entity that Kaysena led. Warriors by nature do not fear death in battle, but with the divine teachings of the True Path, the warriors of Argoth find the inner strength to feel no pain, to fear no fate. The ultimate monk, the True Path warriors protected their home better than any machine could. They were as cold and calculating as the machine, but far more flexible in their execution of their orders.
Marcus Illonia – A divergence within the ranks of Argoth, Marcus doesn't follow the druidic teachings of the one path. A man with no divinity, Marcus believes only the in strength of the sword, and the warriors who have his back. He doesn't doubt the devotion or conviction of the True Path, simply their likeliness for success. Marcus doesn't care who gets the credit, as long as Argoth remains free.
Rallis Etonia – As nations rose, so too did individuals that found for their purposes. But in any war, there are always going to be those that simply fought for wealth and power. Rallis was an extremely charismatic individual with the gift to convince entire legions that following behind him would lead them to glory and purpose. Never once did Rallis raise his hand in battle if it wasn't to his benefit. The only purpose Rallis fought for was himself.
Titania – While the True Path was aimed at strategies to wage war, Titania walked a different path of Argoth's divinity. Titania was attenuated to the land, and spoke with the forest. She understood that nature better than anyone else in the True Path. Strength wasn't a tree. It was the forest. And though not prophetic, Titania could hear the whispers of Argoth, and what is spoke of was a future of gray and ash, and that revelation chilled her to the core.
Yandra Ptoleem – As Argive transformed into Korlos, there was much turmoil amongst the Triumverate. Yandra emerged as a strong advocate for preservation of old ways. No matter how much technology changed the appearance of the world, there were those in Korlos who wanted to retain their power and had no intension to relinquish it. Yandra's skills at divination proved useful in circumnavigating many of the pitfalls that befell other conservationists to the technosives that were gaining traction within Korlos.
Yawgmoth – Though Gix had been facilitating Yawgmoth's will to pave the way for a full Phyrexian invasion of Terisiare, he was keenly aware of Gix's waning loyalty. Though Yawgmoth was the ultimate source of power in Phyrexia, he lacked the infrastructure and support to leave his mechanized world. Should Gix forget his mission, Yawgmoth had a contingency ready to begin his great work.
The mechanics of Rise of Nations
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Patriotic
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Patriotic — Whenever a patriot, {effect, varies}
Patriot (Yotia, Korlos, Malpiri, Zegon, and Argoth creatures are patriots.)
10.22.22 Update: Patriotic abilities have been modified to care less about the batching overall and open up the range of effects that care about patriots across the card file. Also, due to visibility issues with the texbox, the patriotic frames have been updated to soften the image inside the textbox to make the text more visible.
The concept of Rise of Nations is that the people of Terisiare are banding behind banners and identities in ways they never have before. The world of small city-states has been left behind and as nations rise and land becomes territory to those nations, so to must the nations appeal to their citizens to rise up and command the identity they fall under.
Patriot is a batch technology in the vein of party. Five new distinct creatures types are introduced in Rise of Nations that tie into the five great nations, and represent citizens of those nations that embody the philosophy and idealism of their nation.
Argoth – Argothian creatures are found in . They are typically warriors, and some walk the True Path, but all work best in unison as a group and are typically found in bands working together. Argoth embodies a go sideways strategy and likes a lot of tokens and small buffs to claim their conquest with a small army.
Korlos – Korlian creatures are found in . They are civilized and like to draw back on their history to understand their place today. They see society as something to maintain, and will gladly tax their opposition as a cost of doing business. They have a strong stranglehold on commerce and the resources to maintain that position. Where most will see what is past is prologue, Kolos draws on its relics and history as means to maintain its power.
Malpiri – Malpiri creatures are found in . They are the bastardized creations of Gix and most Malpiri hosts are mechanized in some way. Those Malpiri that Gix allows to maintain some form of free will, believe they are enacting Yawmoth's will but are unaware of Gix's meddling of the Phyrexian plan, increasingly warping it into his own design. It may be Yawgmoth's plan, but Gix is the true leader of operations on Terisiare, and it is Gix who is truly amassing power.
Yotia – Yotian creatures are found in . With the assassination of Ratha Bin-Kroog by Zegon, Urza turned Yotia into a police state. Instead of feeling constrained, the citizens of Yotia cheered on Urza's defensive measures. No quite understands the freedom that Urza is continually asking them to give up, all the citizens care about is peace of mind, and the scouts and soldiers that are constantly patrolling Yotian lands are keeping them safe. Urza has convinced the people that the world is chaos, and his protection is the order that will save them. What they don't realize is that Urza is constantly pushing back the boundaries and is continually expanding his police state further and further into the neighboring regions.
Zegon – Zegon creatures are found in . Where once the Fallaji where a splintered people, they were newly unified under the Zegon banner and the fist of the Quadir. Life in Zegon is brutal and fierce. The culture of the Fallaji had been stripped of its humanity and is now a training ground for bands of marauders that the Quadir sends out to pillage and raid. Though the Zegon society is not technologically rich, the Quadir has an ace up its sleeve with Mishra who had been imprisoned and forced to create machinery that allows the Quadir's strongest marauders to strike even greater targets to overtake the rival nations in their raids.
Each patriot card has its own unique flag frame that is featured across all three if it's primary colors that also includes a watermark of its faction.
Conquest
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Claim a conquest. (To claim a conquest, create a Conquest, or increase the level of a Conquest you control by one.)
10.22.22 update: Conquest in nature haven't really changed. The base stats on the conquest cards have been redrawn as there were too many counters and numbers to track initially. They've been simplified in execution, but still retain the go wide or go tall tension as you claim them. At first, you would gain currency on a conquest and could active abilities based on using that currency, but combined with the levels and the ultimate ability, it had three counters to track which was way too many. Now, once per turn you can activate your conquest as a sorcery (It's in the command zone), and all abilities of that conquest at or below its current level trigger to resolve in that order (1,2,etc). only the level and the ultimate ability require tracking now. The visual templates will be updated in the next status update.
CQ01 – Conquest of Argoth
Conquest
(This conquest starts at level 1. You may activate this conquest once during your turn as a sorcery.)
1+ The next creature that enters the battlefield under your control this turn, enters with an additional +1/+1 counter on it.
2+ Target creature you control gains double strike until end of turn.
4+ Naturalize 2 (Put a +1/+1 counter on up to two target creatures, or create two 1/1 Citizen creature tokens that are all colors.)
Whenever a creature enters the battlefield under your control, you get a unity counter, then if you have 20 or more unity counters, you win the game.
In a set about the Rise of Nations and the conflicts that result between them in a war for resources, I searched for a mechanic that would best represent that struggle and came up with conquests. A conquest represents a roadmap to achieving greater resource acquisition and power. I looked to meta game mechanics to fulfil this paradigm, and dungeons proved a good starting point for that. But the place that Dungeons most failed was in their lack of player agency. Progress in dungeons was tied to single ETB triggers, and that was only if you were holding the cards to continue that progress.
Conquest is a process, and it seemed important that the player have control over that process and the ability to shape it. A conquest is a marker that you create in the command zone and can't be directly interacted with the board state.
Once I knew that Conquest was going to play into this meta space in the command zone I looked to inspiration how to shape that experience. I really enjoyed the civilization board game, and liked the idea of how the game used different avenues of resources and objects to win. Using that inspiration, I shaped the nature of conquests to follow that game play loop.
Once a conquest has been created, it produces its own resources. Those resources are yours to direct and can't be disrupted by other players. But in and of themselves, those resources are independent of the larger game, it's only when you cash in those resources to shape your board state does the nature of conquest really shine. Each conquest has an alternate win condition, that at their highest return level enable you to achieve more quickly.
Each of the five nations of Rise of Nations has a conquest that maps to that nation's play style and objections. Within the color pie, cards of each particular faction will require you to take action that also fits within that color's philosophy (and the national philosophies that share that color) to claim a conquest. But how you choose to play your conquests are up to the player, and that agency to play to your style is completely open. You can attempt to go all in on a single conquest or you can attempt to go wide and claim each nation's conquest before building any of them up.
Each nation's conquest has four levels that can be claimed, and the conquests grant an additional resource each turn with each subsequent level claimed. After thinking it over, I decided it was best if each conquest created its own currency that couldn't be co-mingled amongst conquests. If that had been the case, there would have been pointless to build up a single conquest instead of claiming each of the five conquests first.
The flow of using a conquest is similar to a board game turn, where you collect your conquest resources at the start of your turn, and then can spend them with activated abilities of your conquests as a sorcery during your turn. These activations vary from card draw to creating creature tokens. Each activation is tied to the philosophy and the goal of the conquest of the nation it belongs to. While conquests have alternate win conditions, they ultimately aid the player's board state and can be a great resource in the late game.
Conquest cards have a semi unique layout as they are like dungeons, but with a lot more text. They are kind of a compromise between trying to find a way to make them more visually compelling, but also fitting all of the relevant information on the card. When in play a conquest has a lot of heavy lifting mechanically, so there wasn't a lot of room for visual appearance.
Territory
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Territory is a new type appearing on a vertical cycle of lands starting with the basic dual lands that appear in the back of a pack up through a cycle of uncommon and rare Tri-lands.
Territories represent to the acquisition of land in the conquest of nations, and some cards will give you bonus effects for controlling a territory. Since Territory is specifically a land subtype, some green effects that search for lands will also allow you to search for Territories. Some Black/Red destroy effects are also on the lookout to do extra damage by denying their opponents access to Territories they have gained.
I thought about potentially including Territory on a cycle of basic lands, like how Wastes work, but since Territory is more of a mini-mechanic like how Gates have a small degree of interaction, I kept them only on the basic dual lands instead.
Faction mini-mechanics
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Yotia
10.22.22: Investigate and Detain have been abandoned as it was over complicating have two abilities define a single shard. Instead a new mechanic (Patrol) has been created to capture the flavor of soldiers and police patrolling the streets and maintaining order across the nation. It blends a little bit of the tension of day/night with prowess. It only triggers once per turn, and only if you are casting a spell. As a combat ability it makes your creatures stronger on the attack, and gives you the option to also strengthen your defense with combat tricks. As a kicker effect, some spells and creatures look to see if your creatures are on patrol.
Patrol (Whenever you cast a spell for the first time each turn, this creature gets +1/+1 and goes on patrol until end of turn.)
WC00 – Aeronaut Skypatroller
Creature – Human Artificer C
Flying
Patrol (Whenever you cast a spell for the first time each turn, this creature gets +1/+1 and goes on patrol until end of turn.)
Whenever Aeronaut Skypatroller attacks, if it's patrolling, another target creature you control gains flying until end of turn.
2/3
Investigate (Create a colorless Clue artifact token with "2, Sacrifice this artifact: Draw a card.")
As a police state, Yotia is all about the appearance of control. Investigate felt like a good fit for this role as it has historically been shared between green, white and blue in the past. It also fits the role of adding more artifacts in play in a setting that cares deeply about artifacts. Many Yotia faction cards relate directly to Investigate and clue tokens.
Korlos
11.22.22 – Tax needed some tweeking to make it more meaningful as a gameplay loop. I first decoupled it from payment nomenclature and returned it back to a mechanic. Then I tried moving it to a true forced payment (Think power sink) that players had to pay immediately or you would get a positive effect. But that didn't provide enough player agency to give the mechanic depth. Tax is now a running tally of mana owed to your opponents with its current incarnation, and the mechanical nature of tax has to do with how opponents are managing their ledger.
Tax target opponent 3. (They put three collection counters on a Ledger they control. If they don't control one, they first create a colorless Ledger artifact token with ": Remove up to X collection counters from this artifact".)
UC00 – Elusive Scoundrel
Creature – Human Rogue C
Whenever Elusive Scoundrel attacks, tax defending player 2. (They put two collection counters on a Ledger they control. If they don't control one, they first create a colorless Ledger artifact token with ": Remove up to X collection counters from this artifact".)
: Until end of turn, Elusive Scoundrel can't be blocked by creatures with power equal to or less than the number collection counters on Ledgers defending player controls.
2/1
Tax Target player . If that player doesn't pay this way, [effect].
Like mill and dies, tax is a new nomenclature to say that player must pay . Cards taxing players this way this has been a staple of magic since alpha. Since Korlos is deeply concerned about preserving the past, it felt fitting that they would turn to old school mechanics like taxing. Many Korlos faction cards care about either taxing directly, or giving you advantages each time you do tax a player. I've also updated the wording on cards that require a mana payment from an opponent like spell pierce to use this new wording. I.E. Ward:
Ward 2 (Whenever this creature becomes the target of a spell or ability an opponent controls, tax that player 2. Counter it unless they pay 2 this way.)
Malpiri
10.22.22 update – Reconstruct was proving too slow for the format and was never relevant to reconstruct the creatures with the ability. I dropped much of the graveyard matters subtheme of Malpiri and instead focused on the nation's hidden background of the growing cult of Gix. Since the faction was concerned about followers and subversion, I came up with the concept of indoctrinating creatures. It's a state based ability that creatures gain and isn't counter based (like stun counters). Though if memory issues pop up it could move to counters. Indoctrinating your opponents creatures shows the growing subversion of Gix's influence. It also opened back up a mill subtheme in Malpiri.
Indoctrinate (When an indoctrinated creature dies, its controller mills two cards.)
UC00 – Contraband Smuggler
Creature – Malpiri Rogue C
When Contraband Smuggler enters the battlefield, Indoctrinate target creature an opponent controls. (When an indoctrinated creature dies, its controller mills two cards.)
Contraband Smuggler can't be blocked by indoctrinated creatures.
1/1
Reconstruct N — (, Exile this card from your graveyard: Create a token copy of it, except it's a black Phyrexian artifact with no mana cost. It enters with N additional +1/+1 counters on it.)
Reconstruct appears on creature cards in blue black and red. Gix has been hard at work bringing about his Phyrexian domination of Terisiare. The denizens of the Malpiri are just fodder for his great work. Taking their corpses, Gix is reconstructing them stronger and better as phyrexians.
Reconstruct is a variant on Embalm, that also makes provision to allow the creature to become stronger by entering with additional +1/+1 counters on it. In addition to creatures with reconstruct, some cards allow a creature to be reconstructed as part of a spell or ability resolving, typically without +1/+1 counters.
Zegon
10.22.22 Update – Zegon is still about unchecked aggression, but there was originally a Treasure subtheme I toyed with that I'm making stronger in the colors. Zegon is obsessed with controlling and possessing as it was there lands that the Argivian archaeologists raided for Thran technology. Melee was proving too disinteresting, and I came with a sneakier mechanic for Zegon, as their M.O. is to raid and pillage which Ambush captures the flavor of.
Ambush [cost] (You may cast this spell any time you could cast an instant for its ambush cost.)
RC00 – Quadir's Retinue
Creature – Zegon Barbarian C
First strike
When Quadir's Retinue enters the battlefield, if it ambushed, creatures you control get +1/+0 until end of turn.
Ambush (You may cast this spell any time you could cast an instant for its ambush cost.)
Where the Quadir went, death followed.
2/1
Melee — Whenever this creature deals combat damage while attacking, [effect]
Zegon is all about unchecked aggression. It wants to see that aggress rewarded. I considered things like boast, and saboteur triggers, but I felt that the low hanging fruit made the most sense here. It doesn't matter what a Zegon creature hits, as long as it's hitting.
This was a little harder to balance than initially expected, as you can't reward to well for simply attacking, and also the timing window of combat damage step precludes being able to have melee triggers include combat buffs and tricks.
Overall I think it does well what the faction wants to see, and that's creatures charging into battle over and over again with no regard for their life.
Argoth
10.22.22 Update – Argoths strategy and mechanic are still intact, but naturalize has been simplified in function as it was being too specific and narrow in its execution. Also the citizen tokens being all patriot types quickly proved problematic so they are no longer patriots.
naturalize 1 (Put a +1/+1 counter on up to one target creature, or create a 1/1 Citizen creature token that's all colors.)
Naturalize N (Distribute N +1/+1 counters on any number of target patriots you control, or create N 1/1 colorless Citizen creature tokens with multinational that are all patriot types. Yotia, Korlos, Malpiri, Zegon, and Argoth creatures are patriots.)
To help support Argoth's go wide strategy, a new mechanic was created. Called Naturalize. As the mechanic that centers in green which cares about nature, the definition of naturalize is to admit a foreigner to the citizenry of a county, so it seemed very fitting. To give the mechanic a little more mesh with set, you can opt to either distribute N +1/+1 counters on any number of patriots you already control, or you can create citizen tokens that are all patriot types.
For the most part citizen tokens are primarily in red, green and white, but some cards do create citizen tokens without the naturalize mechanic where it makes sense.
Returning Keywords/New Deciduous
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Treasure token. (It's an artifact with ", Sacrifice this artifact: Add one mana of any color.")
While it's been stated that treasure tokens along with a host of other artifact tokens have been designated as deciduous, I see all of these tokens as batched together as what I would refer to as "Utility tokens." I see utility tokens as quintessential component of magic, that now they have been fully realized, as a core component of the game in same was that creatures are a core component. Utility tokens open up the game to improved gameplay that can't be understated, and while some of the various tokens are tied to unique and not also translatable flavor (Blood tokens especially), Treasure tokens are ubiquitous and can fit in any world, and fix so many of the games casting problems. I consider Treasure tokens an evergreen component of utility tokens and use them when and wherever they are needed.
I appreciate New Capenna's use of Treasure tokens entering tapped and taken that strategy to heart to ensure that a flood of Treasure isn't an immediate mana boost.
10.22.22 Update: Totem armor has been dropped as it was again too many mechanics competing for limited space and I favored new mechanics or returning mechanics.
Totem armor (If enchanted creature would be destroyed, instead remove all damage from it and destroy this Aura.)
Positive creature auras are fragile to the point of really needing help to be playable, and totem armor did a good job repairing some of that fragility to make them a consistent playable #23 in many limited decks. Flavorwise they could use a refresh, but I like to consider them as a deciduous mechanic to help push the playability of positive auras in a format that wants that.
I use Totem armor thematically to differentiate Yotian technology to create more of a go big style of play versus Argoth's go wide style of play.
